Garment hanger



J. F. MAY

GARMENT HANGER June 17, 1947.

Filed Feb. 2, 1945 FIE-.2

INVENTOR.

BY \J/JMM(Q;4

Fll3.6

Patented June 17, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT 1 OFFICE 2,422,493 GARMENT HANGER John F. May, Erie, Pa.

Application February 2, 1945, Serial No. 575,760

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to garment hangers, and has for its object to provide a hanger for tubular garments such as trousers or skirts comprising resilient arms which engage within opposite sides of the garment to support it in a suspended position.

A further object of my invention is to provide a garment hanger which will support two different pieces of a suit, such as a mans coat and trousers, or a womans waist and skirt, which is accomplished by the provision, in addition to those parts which support the shoulders of 'a garment, of separate arms depending therefrom adapted to hold a tubular garment by their engagementtherein at opposite sides of the garment.

To these and other ends, my invention comprises further improvements and arrangement of parts, all as will bemore fully described in the following specification, the novel features thereof being set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation illustrating one form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line Z Z of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective View showing the spring arms made of wire.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing another way of carrying out the invention.

Fig. 6 is a detailed view of a modification.

Similar reference characters in the several figures indicate similar parts.

The broad concept of my invention comprehends a hanger for suspending a tubular garment by means of connected spring arms l and 2 which may be compressed and inserted within th cuffs of trouser legs or the waist band of a skirt, and when released will expand into engagement with opposite sides thereof, the engagview taken on the ing portion of the arms being suitably formed to firmly grip the fabric. The hanger may, if desired, be provided with a hook 3 for suspending it altho the arch of the spring gives ample space above the garment to allow it to be placed over a closet hook or other projection.

Since my invention also comprehends the inclusion of th aforementioned arms towhat is generally designated as a coat hanger which is used for suspending upper body garments by insertion in the shoulders thereof, I have indicated one of these in dotted lines in Figure 1 and shown it by full lines in the remaining illustrations.

For the purpose of illustration, I have shown in the several figures a coat hanger supported at its center by the hook 3. It is made of wire, preferably of a single piece having laterally extending arms 4 and 5; both of these arms slope downwardly toward their outer ends and extending-between these is a cross piece 6 which assists in preventing the arms i and 5 from collapsing when supporting the weight of a heavy garment.

The means I provide for supporting a nether garment, such as a skirt or trousers, is shown in Figure 2 as a single piece of flat spring steel 1 somewhat narrowed at its center and formed, as indicated at 8 into a hollow trough to fit snugly against the contiguous ends of the arms 4 and 5 to which it may be suitably attached as by spot welding. The ends of the spring piece 1 are curved downwardly and slotted at 9 to straddle the cross bar 6, their extremities projecting below the bar. The material at the inner edges of the slot is bent outwardly at right angles to the plate 1, as indicated at In and serrated for better engagement with a fabric.

In Figures 3 and 4, I have shown the spring arms as composed of two parallel pieces la-lb of curved spring wire, suitably secured to the hanger arms 4 and 5. There depending ends lie at 0pposite sides of the cross bar 6 and their extremities are serrated or crinkled as indicated.

In Figure 5, I have shown still another adaptation of my invention. Herein the diverging arms 4a-5a of th coat hanger are utilized to support the dependent arms in a manner whereby they may be adjusted bodily toward or from each other, as to which there is a certain advantage obtained, inasmuch as nether garments such as the waist bands of dress skirts, in particular, will vary in size. In this construction where pairs of arms are desired, as illustrated in previous figures, I employ two wires lc-Id of suitable spring characteristics and after bending them initially into a slight are I wrap their upper ends around the hanger arms 4d5a. In performing this operation, the coils of the two wires l cld become entwined and are thus interlocked and while the winding may be sufliciently tight to prevent their movement lengthwise of the enclosed hanger'arm, I prefer to make this engagement a snug but sliding fit. This arrangement, it will be understood, enables the depending pairs of arms to be separately adjusted along their respective hanger arms. It will be seen that when tension is applied to the extremities of the depending arms, as by attaching a garment to them, that a slight distortion is created in the convolutions of the windings, causing them to grip the hanger arms. However, it is not necessary to rely on this gripping action as the normal tendency of these arms when weight is applied to opposing pairs of arms is to cause them to move away from'each other at their upper ends thus increasing the spring action in their free portions and exert a steady tension on opposite sides of the subtended garment.

In carrying out my invvention, it is not essential that the spring arms I and 2 ,be integral, so

long as a certain amount of spring action is provided at their extremities. Connection between them may be effected in a variety of ways one of which is shown in Figure 5 and another in Figure 6. In the latter the spring arms le-lf may be mounted by wrapping them on the cross piece 6 of the hanger as previously described. They are adjustable longitudinally on the cross-piece to accommodate garments of difierent widths and when so adjusted, th tension imparted to them when they are separated and engaged within a garment causes the coils to frictionally engage the bar 6. The normal relative position of these arms may be maintained by an interposed coil spring ll.,

The invention claimed is:

1. In a hanger for mens suits, the combination with asubstantially triangular wire frame having oppositely diverging inclined upper arms and a lower cross piece connecting them, a pair of spring arms having coiled ends wrapped around each of said inclined arms with a sliding fit, the free ends of the spring arms projecting below the cross piece and flexing in the direction thereof, said flexing serving to cant the coiled portions to lock them in their adjusted positions on the inclined arms.

2. The combination with a wire coat hanger having arms sloping downwardly at divergent angles, of a pair of wires wrapped around intermediate portions of each of said arms, and adjustable longitudinally thereon, each wire having a depending spring end, the ends of said pairs of wires being spaced apart and adapted to be inserted within and to engage opposite inner sides of each cuff of a pair of trousers, the flexing of the spring ends of the wires serving to cant their wrapped ends and lock them to the respective hanger arms.

3. The combination with a wire coat hanger having arms sloping downwardly at divergent angles, of a pair of wires wrapped with a sliding fit around each of said hanger arms and having depending spring ends adapting corresponding pairs of said four wires at their extremities to be inserted within and engage by spring pressure the opposite inner sides of the cuffs of a pair of trouser legs, the flexing of the depending ends of the wires serving tobind their wrapped ends in their adjusted position on the hanger arms;

JOHN F. MAY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

